Nigeria urban and regional palanning law:lapses and solutions

THE CURRENT URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING DECREE 88 OF 1992


INTRODUCTION
A law from the legal perspective can be defined as written or unwritten rules on human conduct, derived from formal enactment, customs, judicial precedents which are generally recognized as binding in a human community. In other words, a law is a rule of conduct which differs from other rules of conduct, such as those of ethnics, good manners, or of sports, in that, it is supported by sanctions, and administered by the state. There is duality in the concept of law. We have to be careful to distinguish between “A law”””

2.0 THE NIGERIAN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING LAW DECREE 88 OF 1992
The Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning law Decree 88 of 1992 commenced on the 15th December 1992. This law is divided into six (6) parts and ninety-two (92) sections.
Arrangement of sections
PART 1 PLAN PREPARATION AND ADMINISTRATION
A TYPES AND LEVELS OF PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS- it is divided into 26 sections and sub-sections
1.- (1) At the Federal level
(2) At the State level
(3) At the Local level
B ADMINISTRATION
2. Responsibilities of the Federal Government
3. Responsibilities of State Government
(1) A State Government shall exercise its physical planning responsibilities within the framework of the National Physical development plan to ensure consistency in physical development at all levels of planning in Nigeria.
(2) Functions of a State Government
4. Responsibilities of Local Government
C EXECUTION
5. Establishment of certain bodies
A National Urban and Regional Planning Commission
A State Urban and Regional Planning Board
A Local Planning Authority
6-12. Deals with the composition of the commission, the Board, the Authority, their functions and power delegated to them.


D PROCEDURES
This contains 14 sections and sub-sections, i.e. section 13-26 which deals with issues like; the procedures for preparation of National Physical Development, appointment and functions of Technical Committee, Deposit of the Operative National Physical Development Plan, Review of the Operative National Physical Plan, Annual Reports, Proceedings, Subject Plan among others.
PART II DEVELOPMENT CONTROL- it is divided into 36 sections and sub-sections
27 deals with the Establishment and jurisdiction of Development Control Department, this is further divided into 5 sub-sections.
28-46 deals with the powers and functions of the development control department, Grounds for rejection of a development application, Time limit for delay of approval, Revocation of development permit by the Control Department, Appeal against revocation, Compensation payable for revocation, time limit for payment of compensation, dispute arising from compensation payable among others.
ENFORCEMENT
47-63 deal with service of enforcement notice, forms of an enforcement notices,
Issuance of stop-work order for unauthorized development, penalty, Contravention notice, Demolition, Control Department’s power to demolish a defective building, cost of demolition to be paid by developer and so on.
PART III ADDTITIONAL CONTROL IN SPECIAL CASES –it has 11 sections
64-74 compilation of list of building of special architectural or historical interest, conditions for including a building in the Development control department’s list, demolition, alteration, etc of a listed building, Offences Penalty, Control permission to include appropriate provision for preservation and planting of trees, Maintenance of waste land among others.
PART IV ACQUISITION OF LAND AND COMPENSATION-it has 4 sections (75-78) and sub-sections.
75 Power to revoke acquired occupancy. It has 2 sub-sections
76 Compensation; All matters connected with the payment of compensation for the revocation of a right of occupancy under this part in the Decree shall be governed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Land Use Act. It has 3 sub-sections
77 Facilitation and execution of approved plan
78 Recovery of betterment from owners of land or property for increased in value. It has 5 sub-sections.
PART V IMPROVEMENT AREAS-REHABILITATION, RENEWAL AND UPGRADING it is further divided into 5 sections (79-85) and sub-sections
79 Exercise of power under this part
80 Improvement areas, it is further divided into 3 sub-sections
81 Consultation, cooperation and improvement areas. It has 2 sub-sections
82 Power of the authority in an improvement area.
83 Restriction on power to demolish.
84 Exercise of power of repair, demolition and renovation.
85 Provision of alternative accommodation, it has 2 sub-sections
PART VI APPEALS-it has 7 sections (86-92) and sub-sections
86 Establishment of the Urban and Regional Planning Tribunal
87 composition of Tribunal
88 Tenure of office
89 Rules and procedure
Repeal and savings.
91 Interpretation
92 Citation











3.0 AMENDMENT DECREE NO 18 OF 1999

The Amendment Decree No. 18 of 1999 commenced on the 23rd March 1999.
The Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Decree (in this Decree referred to as “the principal Decree”) is amended as set out in this Decree.
Section 6 of the principal Decree is amended- (1)(a) by inserting after the word
“Chairman” the words “who shall be appointed by the Head of State, Commander –in-Chief of the Armed Force on the recommendation of the Minister.
(b) in subsection (1)(c) by deleting the word “and” after sub-paragraph (ix) and inserting after sub-paragraph (x), the following new sub-paragraph (xi) and (xii)- “(xi) the Federal Ministry of Education, and (xii) the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals.” And
(c) in subsection (1)(f) by deleting all the words after word “Director” and substituting therefore the words “who shall be appointed by the Head of State. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on the recommendation of the Minister.”
Insertion of new section 6A
Section 8 of the principal Decree is amended- (a) in subsection(1)(a) by inserting after the word “Chairman” the words “who shall be appointed by the Governor of the State on the recommendation of the Commissioner,”
(b) in subsection (1)(d) by deleting the word “and” after sub-paragraph (iii) and inserting the following new sub-paragraph (iv) and (v)
“(iv) Ministry of Education; and
(v) Ministry of Solid Minerals,”
(c) by substituting for subsection (1)(f) the following new subsection (1)(f)-
“(F) the Executive Secretary of the Board appointed by the Governor of the State on the recommendation of the word “with the approval of the Governor of the State,”
(d) in subsection (5) by inserting before the word “may”, the word “with the approval of the Governor of the State,”.
4 Section 10 of the principal Decree is amended-
(a) in subsection (1)(a) by inserting after the word “Chairman” the word “who shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Local Government Council on the recommendation of the Commissioner,”, (b) by deleting the existing subsection (1)(f) and inserting a new subsection (1)(f) as follows-
“(f) The Executive Secretary appointed by the Chairman of the Local Government Council on the recommendation of the Commissioner”. And
(c) In subsection (5) by inserting before the word “may” the word “with the approval of the Chairman of the Local Government Council,”
5. Section 86 of the principal Decree is amended by inserting after the word “established” the words “at the Federal level”.
6. Section 87 of the principal Decree is amended in subsection (2)(c) by inserting immediately before the word “town” the word “registered”.
8. Immediately after section 89 of the principal Decree there is inserted a new section 89A as follows-
89A-(1) on the commencement of this Decree the Urban and Regional and Regional Planning Division (in this section referred to as “the Division”) shall cease to exist.
(2)The Division accordingly, is hereby dissolved and the provision of the Schedule to the Decree shall apply in relation to the employees in the Division, the assets and liabilities of the Division and the matters connected with the Division set out therein.”
9. Section 91 of the principal Decree is amended by inserting after the definition of “Commission” the following new definition-
“Commissioner” means the Commissioner charged with responsibility for matters relating to Urban and Regional Planning in the State,”.
10 Immediately after section 92 of the principal Decree there is inserted a new Schedule as follows-
1. By virtue of this Decree, there shall be vested in the Commission immediately at the commencement of this Decree, without further assurance, all assets, funds, resources and other movable or immovable property which immediately before the commencement of this Decree were vested in the Urban and Regional Planning Division of the Federal Ministry of Work and Housing (in this Schedule referred to as “the Division”).
2. as from the commencement of this Decree-
(a) all rights, interest, obligations and liabilities of the Division existing immediately before the commencement of this Decree under any contract or instrument, or at law or in equity apart from any contract or instrument, shall be virtue of this Decree be assigned to and vested in the Commission;
(b) any contract or instrument as mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph shall be of the same force and effect against or in favour of the Commission shall be enforceable as fully and affectively as if, instead of the Division, the Commission had been named therein or had been a party thereto; and
(c) the Commission shall be subject to all obligations and liabilities to which the Division was subject immediately before the commencement of this Decree, and all other persons shall as from the commencement of this Decree have the same rights, power and remedies against the Commission as they had against the Division immediately before the commencement of this Decree.
3. Any proceeding or cause of action pending or existing before the commencement of this Decree by or against the Division in respect of any right, interest, obligations or liability of the Commission may be commended, continued or enforced by or against the Commission as if this Decree had not been made.
4 Notwithstanding the provision of this Decree but subject to such directions as may be issued by the Commission, any person who immediately before the date of commencement of this Decree held office in the Division shall be deemed to have been transferred to the Commission on terms and conditions not less favorable than those obtaining immediately before the commencement of this Decree and service under the Division shall be deemed to be service under the Commission for purpose of pension.
5 The Minister, if he thinks fit, may within twelve months after the commencement of this Decree, by order published in the Gazette, make additional transitional or saving provisions for the better carrying out of the objectives of this Schedule.”
11. This Decree may be cited as the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning (Amendment) Decree 1999. MADE at Abuja this 23rd day of March 1999.

CRITICISM AND SOLUTION OF THE NIGERIAN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING LAW DECREE 88 OF 1992
Part 1, Section 1, Sub-section 1(d): the right to draw and develop a local plan should only be given to the local government and not the state government. Because it is those concerned that will know how to put their basic needs in writing and drawings and also the state government might just put down a plan which will be of greater benefits to them than the local people. Also, there may be MALICE (a law of tort) which means transfer of aggression in the past to the present. For example, in a situation whereby a Governor was once bullied or maltreated by a particular person in his youthful days, and he sees the governorship position as an opportunity to retaliate, he will just try every possible means to acquire or take hold of the land of the person.
Part 2, Section 29: any existing law exempting government and its agencies involved in development of land from obtaining approval of the relevant control department is hereby repealed. This should not be so, we can’t say because the government are in charge so they can’t obtain approval from the development control. Even if it is not going to be in all cases, there should be some situation in which approval need to be sought for before the government can take charge or proceed with whatever thing they want to do.
Part 2 (Development Control): the power of the control department should also be reduced to some extent since they believe there won’t and can’t be any development without their consent.
Part2, section35, Sub-sections 2(a and b): a development permit granted to a developer shall (a) remain valid for two years from the date of communication of the approval of a development permit to a developer. (b) Where a developer fails to commence development within two years, the development permit shall be subject to re-validation by the control department which issue the original permit. The time frame for the re-validation of the development permit should be increased to probably three (3) years due to the economy of the nation and also some factors need to be considered as well like the death of the owner, etc.
Part2, section 44: compensation payable under this section shall be paid not later than 90 days after a claim for compensation had been made. The time limit should be reduced to 60 days (two months) since government is always strict to payment of dues on the part of the individuals and they also have enough revenue to finance such compensation.
Part 2, Section 49: where there is no existing operative development plan and a developer has already developed a residential building, the Control Department may assist the developer of such residential building in re-locating on another site. I feel that another alternative like compensation based on the level and worth of development need to be put in place as well. For instance, in a situation where by the developer doesn’t like the new site he is being re-located to.
Part 2, section 59: a person who fails to comply with the terms of an enforcement notice or disregard a stop-work order issued and served pursuant to this decree is guilty of offence and liable on conviction to a fine of not exceeding #10,000 in the case of an individual and in the case of a corporate body to a fine not exceeding #50,000. From my own point of view, planners are giving room to violation of planning laws due to this minute fine it attracts. So I will suggest that the fine should not exceed #50,000 on the part of individual and that of the company would be based on the type of company it is i.e. large scale, small scale or mid range, but it must not be less than #100,000 for that of a small scale company.
Part 2, Section 61, Sub-section 2: notice served pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall contain a date not later than 21days on which the Control Department shall take steps to commence demolition action on the defective structure. I feel that the time limit is too short for the serving of a demolition notice so it should be extended to probably 180days.